The United States on Friday vetoed a United Nations Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, diplomatically isolating Washington as it shields its ally.
Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of a brief draft resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained. The vote came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the 15-member council of a global threat from the two-month long war.
"It's not an issue about isolation. It's an issue about what we think is best to try to end this conflict as soon as possible and also to help facilitate more humanitarian assistance going into Gaza," Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told reporters ahead of the vote.
"We can't just snap our fingers and the conflict stops. This is a very, very difficult situation," he said.
The United States and Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
A seven-day pause - that saw Hamas release some hostages and an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza - ended on Dec. 1.
After several failed attempts to take action, the Security Council last month called for pauses in fighting to allow aid access to Gaza, which Guterres on Friday described as a "spiraling humanitarian nightmare."
The US favors its own diplomacy, rather than Security Council action, to win the release of more hostages and press Israel to better protect civilians in Gaza as it retaliates for the Hamas attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people.
However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged on Thursday that there was a "gap" between Israel's intent to protect civilians and what has happened on the ground. Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 17,480 people have been killed.
Israel has bombarded Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground offensive. The vast majority of the Palestinian enclave's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
"There is no effective protection of civilians," Guterres told the council earlier on Friday. "The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival. But nowhere in Gaza is safe."
In Washington, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters earlier on Friday that if the Security Council failed to adopt the resolution, "it is giving Israel a license to continue with its massacre of Palestinians in Gaza."
Along with demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the draft text said Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the Security Council earlier on Friday that there was a ceasefire that had been broken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
"The irony is that regional stability and the security of both Israelis and Gazans can only be achieved once Hamas is eliminated, not one minute before," Erdan said. "So the true path to ensure peace is only through supporting Israel's mission - absolutely not to call for a ceasefire."
Go to the full article >>The Biden administration has asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israel's Merkava tanks for use in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, according to a US official and a former US official.
The request is being made even as concerns grow about the use of US weapons in a war that has killed thousands of civilians in the Palestinian enclave since Israel responded to an attack on Oct. 7 by Hamas terrorists.
The potential sale, worth more than $500 million, is not part of President Joe Biden's $110.5 billion supplemental request that includes funding for Ukraine and Israel. It is under informal review by the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees, which allows members the privilege to stall the sale, or have informal discussions with the administration about concerns.
But the US State Department is pushing the congressional committees to quickly approve the transaction, said a US official and Josh Paul, a former State Department spokesperson, amid objections from rights advocates over the use of US-made weapons in the conflict.
"This went to committees earlier this week and they are supposed to have 20 days to review Israel cases. State (Department) is pushing them to clear now," Paul told Reuters.
A State Department spokesperson said as a matter of policy, "we do not confirm or comment on proposed defense transfers or sales until they have been formally notified to Congress."
Reuters could not establish why the State Department would be pushing to clear the sale quickly.
Online images of the war show that Israel regularly deploys Merkava tanks in its Gaza offensive and on its southern border with Lebanon, where skirmishes have erupted since Oct. 7.
The tanks are also linked to incidents that involved the death of journalists.
On Thursday, a Reuters investigation revealed that an Israeli tank crew killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six reporters by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling.
Israel has sharply increased strikes on the Gaza Strip since a seven-day-long truce ended a week ago, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war that Washington said veered from Israeli promises to do more to protect civilians.
As the war intensified, how and where exactly the US weapons are used in the conflict has come under more scrutiny, even though US officials say there are no plans to put conditions on military aid to Israel or to consider withholding some of it.
Earlier this week, Amnesty International said US-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) were used by the Israeli military in two air strikes on homes full of civilians, the first time a rights group has directly linked US weapons to an attack that killed civilians.
Israel says it is providing detail about which areas are safe for civilians and how to reach them, and says Hamas is to blame for harm that befalls civilians because it operates among them, an accusation the Islamist group denies.
Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry on Friday said the death toll from Israel's campaign in Gaza had risen to 17,487, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble.
Israel launched what it says is a campaign to destroy Hamas after the Islamist terrorist group attacked Israeli towns in a surprise cross-border incursion on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.
Go to the full article >>IDF troops involved in a failed hostage rescue operation in the Gaza Strip were severely wounded on Friday night.
Special Forces raided a known Hamas compound and eliminated terrorists who took part in the kidnapping and holding of the hostages.
Intelligence led to a daring operation to rescue hostages in the Gaza Strip, who were ultimately not found at the location.
The families of the wounded soldiers have been informed.
"The IDF continues to operate in a variety of operational and intelligence ways, together with the other security organizations, to free the abductees and the abductees, and gather information about them," an IDF spokesperson said.
"The terrorist organization Hamas is trying and will try to produce psychological terror. Spreading unverified rumors and facts should be avoided."
According to a Hamas announcement, special forces were discovered during the operation and there was an exchange of fire.
A Hamas statement published this morning stated that military aircraft "intervened and bombed the location". Hamas also claimed that they obtained a rifle belonging to one of the soldiers and a special forces radio, but these claims have not been verified, according to N12.
Go to the full article >>A senior EU official said on Friday he expected the bloc to adopt further sanctions against Hamas in the coming weeks.
"I'm pretty sure that the sanctions on Hamas will be adopted in the next couple of weeks, something like that," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The EU on Friday put two Hamas commanders on its terrorist list.
Go to the full article >>A UN Security Council vote on a demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was delayed by several hours on Friday until after a planned meeting between Arab ministers and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The United States - a veto-wielding power on the council - has said it does not currently support further action by the 15-member body on the conflict between its ally Israel and terrorist militant group Hamas in Gaza, a Palestinian enclave. The council last month called for pauses in fighting to allow aid access.
The United States and Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
"While the United States strongly supports a durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire," Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council.
"This would only plant the seeds for the next war because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace," he said.
The council was now due to vote on a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates at 5.30 p.m. (2230 GMT) - just after Blinken meets in Washington with ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey.
"Today this council will vote, it will have an opportunity to respond to the deafening calls across the world to bring this violence to an end," Deputy UAE Ambassador to the UN Mohamed Abushahab told the council.
To be adopted, a Security Council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, France or Britain.
While the vote was delayed, the council still convened Friday morning to hear a briefing by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after he made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the body of a global threat from the war.
"I urge the council to spare no effort to push for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the protection of civilians, and for the urgent delivery of lifesaving aid," said Guterres - who has long called for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said there had been a ceasefire that was broken by Hamas on October 7.
"The irony is that regional stability and the security of both Israelis and Gazans can only be achieved once Hamas is eliminated, not one minute before," Erdan said. "So the true path to ensure peace is only through supporting Israel's mission - absolutely not to call for a ceasefire."
Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 people taken hostage during the Oct. 7 cross-border assault by Hamas. Israel has focused its retaliation against Hamas in Gaza, bombarding it from the air, imposing a siege and launching a ground offensive.
Gaza's Health Ministry says that so far, 17,170 people have been killed. The vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
The US offered substantial amendments to the UAE-drafted resolution to be voted on Friday, including a condemnation of the Hamas attacks. This was not added to the text.
The draft was amended to say both "the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law" and to "demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."
Go to the full article >>Rocket sirens were heard in Talmei Yaffe.
The IDF is steadily winning control of pieces of Khan Yunis away from Hamas, but is facing some of the toughest resistance of the war to date.
If on Monday night, the IDF caught Hamas by surprise by invading Khan Yunis from multiple directions and with creative maneuvers, as the week has dragged on, the terror organization regrouped, found its footing, and "is fighting over every centimeter."
The IDF confirmed on Friday afternoon that after a prolonged raid, many weapons were found in the area of a school, including launchers, mortar barrels, RPGs, explosives and intelligence belonging to the Khan Yunis Brigade.
In parallel to unleashing a mix of massive fire power from the air, artillery, tanks and a range of infantry and commando units, the IDF is using information warfare to inject a wedge between the general Gazan population and Hamas.
The name in Arabic for the informational warfare campaign refers both to "opening the gates of hell" for Hamas as well as "a new horizon" for Palestinian civilians.
That means that there are both areas where Hamas forces are surrendering and areas where they are fighting with great intensity.
It is expected to take the IDF time to gain control of Khan Yunis due to the mix of terrain between built-up and agricultural areas and Hamas's extensive tunnel network.
There has also been an increase in using female lookouts and female Palestinians to try to attack IDF forces with improvised explosives.
The IDF is hoping to get more Palestinian civilians to move to Rafah and a humanitarian zone near Khan Yunis, but Hamas continues to use them as human shields, forcing the IDF to use creative tactics to mitigate harm to civilians, while making military progress.
Top defense officials during the ceasefire predicted that the main part of the war would go on until the end of January, followed by a three to nine month lower-grade insurgency.
Go to the full article >>Rocket sirens were heard in Mi'ilya, Ma'a lot Tarshicha, Abirim, Kfar Vradim, and Yanuh-Jat.
